170 South Mumbai buildings dispose over 100kg plastic waste

Some of the plastic waste collected by the residents over the weekend.(HT File)

Almost a week after kicking off their campaign to prepare for the plastic ban that comes into force post June 23, residents of Colaba collected more than 100kgs of plastic waste from 170 buildings in A municipal ward over the weekend.

The #quitplasticmovement covers A municipal ward (consisting of parts of Fort, Ballard Estate, Colaba and Marine Drive). During the weekend, student volunteers, resident associations and two volunteers provided by former Member of Parliament (MP) Milind Deora, with the help of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which provided them with two collection vans, collected more than 100kgs of plastic waste.

“We had expected that we will be able to collect more plastic, but because of the rain, we couldn’t reach out to a few lanes,” said Aditi Jain, vice-president, Cuffe Parade Residents Association (CPRA).

However, Jain said the residents have requested that another drive be conducted soon. “What we are now trying to do is that, as a part of our circular, we will speak about products that are completely banned and those that are exempted. The whole purpose of this exercise is to ask people from across the city to take similar initiatives, take cognisance of the problem, and dispose their waste only after segregation,” said Jain.

Kunti Oza, chairperson, Clean Mumbai Foundation, said as a part of waste segregation sessions, they also speak about the plastic ban, and instruct residents to not use plastic liners in garbage bins and use cloth bags for getting vegetables.

“We have got a sample of a compartment bag for vegetables. Along with CPRA cleanliness committee, will be getting more made through an NGO, which will be distributed among resident members, and our staff will also be informed about it,” said Oza. The members of these associations have now been approached by several residents from Malabar Hill and Nepean Sea Road, among other places, to replicate a similar model for collection and disposal of plastic from their areas.

This comes almost three months after the state government issued a notification banning the use of plastic bags and other one-time use single-use plastic items. All stakeholders have been given time till June 23 to get rid of their plastic, following which those found violating the order will be fined.